Marketing is the generous act of helping others become who they seek to become. It involves creating honest stories — stories that resonate and spread.

Marketing is the name we use to describe the promise a company makes, the story it tells, the authentic way it delivers on that promise.

Marketing is the act of making change happen. Making is insufficient. You haven’t made an impact until you’ve changed someone.

Marketing used to be about advertising, and advertising is expensive. Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread.

Marketing is our quest to make change on behalf of those we serve, and we do it by understanding the irrational forces that drive each of us.

The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the
product or service fits him and sells itself.

seen from the appropriate perspective, the entire business process by which your company does what it does is a marketing process.

Marketing is what you do when your product is no good.

Marketing is one of our greatest callings. It’s the work of positive change.

Marketing is not a department Do you have a marketing department? If not, good. If you do, don’t think these are the only people responsible for marketing. Accounting is a department. Marketing isn’t. Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365. Just as you cannot not communicate, you cannot not market: Every time you answer the phone, it’s marketing. Every time you send an e-mail, it’s marketing. Every time someone uses your product, it’s marketing. Every word you write on your Web site is marketing. If you build software, every error message is marketing. If you’re in the restaurant business, the after-dinner mint is marketing. If you’re in the retail business, the checkout counter is marketing. If you’re in a service business, your invoice is marketing. Recognize that all of these little things are more important than choosing which piece of swag to throw into a conference goodie bag. Marketing isn’t just a few individual events. It’s the sum total of everything you do.

At the very heart of being a merchant is a desire to tell a story by making sensory, emotional connections. Once, twice, or 16,000 times.

Advertising, the process of making known, lets strangers know about the stuff you sell. If more people know about the stuff you sell, then you sell more stuff. If you sell more stuff, then you make more money. Having lots of leads makes it hard to be poor.

Fundamentally, all marketing exists to influence the supply and demand curve.

The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations. You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.